Court of Cassation upholds 8 year sentence for child molesters

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation upheld a May Criminal Court ruling sentencing two men to eight years in prison each after convicting them of sexually assaulting a child in Amman in February of last year.

 The court declared the defendants guilty of molesting the 11-year-old victim on February 6, and handed them the maximum punishment.

Court documents said the victim lived in the neighbourhood where one of the defendants worked at a restaurant.

On the day of the incident, the court transcripts said, the defendants lured the victim to an apartment “where they took turns in sexually assaulting her”.

The victim returned home and notified her family who alerted the authorities, according to court papers. 

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing, court transcripts stated.

However, the Criminal Court rejected their claims stating that it relied on DNA evidence found on the victim’s underwear, which linked the two suspects to the sexual assault.

The defendants also claimed that they were not notified of the “correct time of the court sessions so they could not provide evidence to defend themselves, and that they both support large families”.

The Criminal Court also rejected those claims stating that one of the defendants “was unable to provide any defence witnesses or evidence while the second asked the court for time to provide evidence that would acquit him but he never did”.

Moreover, the Court of Cassation ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling was accurate and the defendants deserved the punishments they received.

The Court of Cassation was comprised of judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Hamad Ghzawi, Nayef Samarat and Naji Zubi.